“No … I was just gazing around,” I stammered. “I mean, this room…”
He shook his head. “My parents are crazy. See all those books on the shelves? They bought them by the yard. Do you believe it? ‘I’ll take four hundred yards of books, please.’”
“Weird,” I said.
He tipped his glass against mine as if toasting. We both took a long sip of beer. “Glad you could come,” he said. His eyes locked on mine.
“Me, too.”
“This is the most awesome room,” he said. “But parts of this house are like out of a Frankenstein movie. No joke. There’s even a room downstairs that’s like a dungeon. Really. You’d swear it was a torture chamber.”
“Sweet,” I said.
That made him laugh. “Are you into torture?”
“Seriously,” I said. “My house doesn’t have a basement. Otherwise, I’d definitely have a torture chamber.”
He nodded. He kept his eyes on mine. He didn’t blink. “Where do you live?”
“On Knobb Road. A few blocks from Lefty’s. It’s a tiny house.” I gestured with both hands. “Actually, my house would fit in this room.”
He took another long sip of beer. It left a line of foam on his upper lip. I had this crazy urge to lick it off.
Whoa. Stay cool, Rachel.
“A few years ago, we had a bigger house on Park Drive,” I said. “But … uh … things changed for my dad, and we had to move.”
Bor-ing. Rachel, he’s going to fall asleep listening to you.
He wiped the foam off his mouth. Then he brushed a hand through his wavy, dark hair. “I really wanted you to come. I hope you have a good time. Maybe later, you and I…” His voice trailed off.
He’s actually flirting with me. “This is an awesome party,” I said.
A sly smile crossed his face. A teasing smile. “Rachel, you’re not scared to be here, are you?”
“Scared?” I laughed. “Why would I be scared?”
He leaned close. “I have some things planned.”
He stayed like that for a moment, with his face close to mine. I actually thought he wanted to kiss me. It was one of those moments where time stopped, like when you pause a movie and everyone freezes in place.
I wanted to kiss him. I moved my face closer. But then his cousin Kenny came up and bumped Brendan from behind, and Brendan spun around to talk to him.
I let out a long breath. Don’t rush things, Rachel.
A wave of happiness rushed over me. I suddenly felt all fluttery. Here I was in this amazing mansion, with the coolest group of kids in school, no parents around, amazing food, and all the beer you could drink. And a guy I’d had a crush on for years was actually flirting with me.
Best day ever?
The boat pilot, Randy, flashed into my mind. I pictured him again, hitting his head on the dock piling and sinking into the water. And again I thought about Geena and April finding dead animals in their beds, just like me.
I shook my head, as if shaking those thoughts away.
Nothing is going to spoil this day. Nothing is going to keep me from having an awesome time at this party.
The rock music ended. Dance music began to pound from the speakers. Some kids were still stuffing their faces. But a few got up to dance, beer glasses in one hand.
I took another sip of beer and wandered over to the food table. Patti and Kerry were being served seconds—slices of pepperoni pizza—by one of the waiters, and I lined up behind them.
We stood against a bookshelf, eating our pizza slices. “I’ve been here before,” Kerry said. “I still don’t believe this room. You could have a full basketball court here. Seriously.”
I laughed. “Is basketball all you think about?”
“No. I think about Patti, too.” He wrapped his free hand around her waist from behind and nuzzled his face in the back of her hair.
“How come you tell everyone you’re just friends?” I said, shouting over the thumping music.
Patti shrugged. “Why not? It’s a little joke we have. To confuse people. We’re friends. We’re just very close friends.”
They both laughed.
Still holding onto Patti, Kerry said something else, but I couldn’t hear him over the music. He and Patti laughed.
I laughed, too, pretending I’d heard him. I finished my pizza and returned the plate to the food table. I asked, and one of the waiters pointed the way to the bathroom, through a glass door at the far end of the ballroom. As I crossed the room, I saw Brendan watching me from the middle of a circle of girls.
Sweet.
The hall leading to the bathroom was dimly lit, the carpet ragged. More dark oil portraits of Fears stared at me from the walls on both sides.
I turned the corner, following the waiter’s directions. He said the restroom would be halfway down the hall on the right. Even this far from the ballroom, I could still hear the boom boom boom of the drumbeat from the pounding dance music.
I took a few steps—then stopped when I heard a hoarse cry. At first, I wasn’t sure if I’d really heard it or not. I thought it might be part of the music drifting down the hall.
I took a few more steps and heard the cry more clearly.
“Help me! Is anyone there? Please—help me!”
A young man’s voice. Randy, the boat pilot? Yes. It sounded like him.
My breath caught in my throat. I heard him again, a muffled voice from somewhere nearby.
“Can anyone hear me? Help me! Please—somebody.”
I forced myself to breathe again and lurched toward the sound of the cries.
“Oh.” I let out a soft cry as two black-uniformed servants stepped in front of me.
They eyed me suspiciously. I recognized Antonio instantly. The other one was tall and broad-shouldered, big like a football player, with curly blond hair. He had a cigarette dangling from his lips. “Can I help you?” he asked.
“I … heard the shouts,” I said. “It sounded like Randy. The boat pilot. Like he was calling for help.”
“I didn’t hear anything,” the server said. He turned to Antonio. “Did you hear anything?”
Antonio shook his head. “No. I didn’t hear anything. Are you looking for the ladies’ room?”
“Yes,” I said. “But I heard someone. Really. He was calling for help. He … he sounded so frightened.”
“We’ll check into it,” Antonio said.
“Yeah. Right away,” his partner added.
They stood side by side, blocking my path. Antonio pointed. “The ladies’ room—it’s right down there. On the right. You can’t miss it.”
“But—but—” I sputtered.
“We’re on it. Really. No worries,” Antonio said.
I could see there was no point arguing with them. I turned and started to walk away. I was halfway down the hall when I heard Antonio’s shout:
“Enjoy the party. Have a good one.”
12.
GHOST STORIES
The dance music was still pumping when I returned to the party room. I saw Eric dancing with April. He was going berserk, jerking his body around like a spastic robot, and she was standing there watching him, her hand to her mouth, obviously embarrassed.
Eric, of course, cannot be embarrassed.
April is shy and quiet. Eric isn’t her type at all. I wondered how he was able to drag her onto the dance floor. He probably did drag her.
Morgan and Kenny, Brendan’s cousins, were slouched in a corner by themselves in their matching Benson School sweatshirts, beer glasses in their hands. I felt bad. They didn’t know anyone here, and they seemed totally uncomfortable. Morgan kept glancing at his phone, then shoving it back in his pocket.
Maybe Brendan wasn’t kidding about them. Maybe they really were antisocial.
I searched for Brendan. I was desperate to tell him about Randy’s cries for help and the two servers who had no intention of helping him. But I didn’t have a chance. The music cut off abruptly, and Brendan stood
at the front of the room, waving his arms above his head to get everyone’s attention.
It took a while for everyone to get quiet. Someone had spilled a plate of macaroni and cheese on the floor, and a waiter stooped to clean it up. Eric was still doing his insane dance moves even though the music had stopped.
It was a little bit funny, but he wasn’t impressing April. She had already crept away from him, shaking her head, her hands balled into tight fists. He was so clueless, he didn’t even realize she had left.
“I want to start,” Brendan said. “You know. Get things rolling.”
We gathered in a tight group in front of him. Only his cousins held back, murmuring to themselves, not smiling.
Brendan rubbed his hands together and flashed us a mad-scientist, gleeful grin. “My devious mind has a lot of ideas for tonight,” he said. “I’ve planned some awesome games.”
“Stop him! He’s a crazy Fear!” Eric shouted. “We’re all going to DIE!”
I laughed and so did a few other kids.
Brendan rolled his eyes. “Why do I put up with you?”
“Because I’m an awesome dude?” Eric answered.
“No,” Brendan said. “That’s not it.”
“Because you feel sorry for him?” Spider Webb shouted.
“Yes,” Brendan said. “You got it.” He waited for everyone to stop laughing. Eric laughed, too. Eric is obnoxious but there’s something lovable about him, too. I’d always wondered if it was possible to have a serious conversation with Eric. I’d never seen him be serious, even in school. Especially in school.
“We’re going to start with a real old game from back in the day,” Brendan announced. “Later, I’m going to tell you about a game I’ve been developing. I’ve been working hard on it, and I think it’s way cool.”
A waiter walked down the line of kids with a tray of beer glasses. Brendan took a glass off the tray and drank half of it down. “The first game is old,” he said, licking his lips. “Like it goes back to the nineteenth century. A scavenger hunt.”
A few kids groaned.
“I thought we were going to play Spin the Bottle,” Eric said.
“Yes, you should let Eric play Spin the Bottle,” Kerry shouted to Brendan. “It’s the only way he’ll ever get a girl to kiss him.”
More laughter.
“Not funny,” Eric muttered.
Brendan waved everyone quiet. “I know, I know. You all probably think a scavenger hunt is a game for kids. But not in this old house. Once you leave this ballroom, you’re in a different world. You’ll find miles of dark, twisting hallways on all the floors. Some of the rooms haven’t been opened for years. Some of the rooms have mysterious objects, masks, figures … weird things we can’t even recognize.
“My ancestors were strange. Everyone knows that. And over the years, their interests and hobbies caused them to collect many things most people have never seen. Maybe there are things you won’t want to see.”
“Oooowooooo.” Kerry did a ghostlike howl.
“Call the Ghost Hunters.”
“Brendan is trying to scare us.”
“Next he’ll tell us the house is haunted,” Patti said.
“The house is haunted,” Brendan said. “Do you really think an old mansion like this doesn’t have its ghosts? My dad said when he was a teenager, he took his girlfriend up to the attic, and they both saw a ghost. The room suddenly turned cold as ice. And he and his girlfriend saw someone in the doorway.
“It was a young woman in a long, old-fashioned dress, like from the 1800s. She was all silver, glowing in a silvery light. Like it was shining out of her, so bright my dad said he had to look away. And when he turned back, she was gone. Dad said he was badly shaken. It was too bold and too real. He never went up to the attic again.”
Silence for a moment.
Then Eric murmured, “Good one, Brendan.”
That got a pretty big laugh from everyone. “Eric,” Brendan said, “maybe you’d like to start in the attic.”
Eric stuck his chin out. “Dare me? Do you? Dare me to start in the attic? Your dad’s fake ghost story doesn’t scare me, dude.”
Brendan frowned at him. “Fake ghost story? Eric, you know my father. Oliver Fear. The most serious man on earth. I don’t think he has ever cracked a joke. I don’t even think he ever laughed at a joke. And believe me, he never made up a story in his life. If he says he saw a ghost in the attic…”
“We’re all shivering and shaking,” Eric said. He did a wild shimmy, shivering and shaking his whole body.
“Eric, I’ll come with you.” Delia Rodgers spoke up. “To the attic. I’m desperate to see a ghost.”
Eric’s eyes went wide. “Seriously?” Delia had never paid any attention to him before.
She tugged at a strand of her white-blonde hair. “I watch Ghost Hunters every week,” she said. “It’s my favorite show.”
“Maybe you’ll see ghosts on your scavenger hunt,” Brendan said. “This is the Fear family, after all. I know you all know the stories. We’re evil.”
“Speak for yourself,” Morgan chimed in.
“Brendan is the most evil,” cousin Kenny said.
Brendan ignored them. He held up a white envelope. “You all were given these envelopes at the door. Take them out now. This is your list of the things you need to find for the scavenger hunt.”
I tore open my envelope and gazed down the list of objects:
A bird skeleton
A jar of silver bullets
A mummy’s finger
A black flower
A stuffed rabbit
A live tarantula
Raven feathers
A silver urn filled with ashes
Totally weird.
“You’ll have to do a lot of exploring,” Brendan said over the muttered conversations around the room. “The objects you need to find have been hidden all over the house. And I have to apologize that a lot of the rooms and halls are dark. This is a summer house, and some of the generators have been turned off. Of course, finding things in the dark is more fun—right?”
“Do you really have a mummy’s finger in this house?” April asked.
Brendan nodded. “Doesn’t every house have a mummy’s finger?”
“Hey, how come Geena’s name is at the bottom of my list?” Eric demanded. “You mean I have to find Geena?”
“Eric, you’re at the bottom of my list,” Geena said, waving her piece of paper in front of him.
“That’s because you’re partners,” Brendan said. “We’re going to divide into twos. Your partner’s name is at the bottom of the page.”
“You mean I have to go into a dark room with Eric?” Geena cried.
Patti pointed to Spider at the end of the line of kids. I guessed she and Spider were going to be partners. Could she stand to be separated from Kerry for an hour or more?
“Hey, Kenny and I are partners?” cousin Morgan said.
“No one else could stand to be with you,” Brendan said.
“I can’t stand to be with him, either,” Kenny said.
They gave each other playful shoves.
“Your cousins are cute,” Delia said to Brendan. “If you shut your eyes.”
Laughter all around.
I raised my list and gazed at the name at the bottom of the page:
Brendan.
Brendan wanted me to be his partner.
I knew this was an awesome party!
Eric bumped up next to me. “Rachel, who’s your partner? Want to trade with Geena? Geena doesn’t like me. You and I—?”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “Brendan is my partner.”
Eric’s eyes went wide. He shouted: “Hey, Brendan—no fair. You can’t be in the game. You know where everything is hidden.”
“No, I don’t,” Brendan said. “I didn’t hide the objects. Some of the workers hid everything before you all arrived. I’m like you. I’m clueless. Really. I don’t know where anything is.”
r /> Some kids grumbled about that. “Brendan, who’s your partner?” Spider called.
“Rachel,” Brendan said.
“Ooh, Brendan—are you going to take Rachel up to the attic?” Delia said.
That got a pretty good laugh. I could feel myself blushing. “No. I’m taking Brendan to the attic,” I said. It was a lame joke. But it made Brendan smile.
“Okay, partner up, guys. We’ll meet back here in two hours,” Brendan said. “The team that collects the most items wins. If anyone gets lost, just scream for help. Probably, no one will hear you. But it’ll make you feel better.”
He started toward me, but Kerry stepped in his way. “Brendan, a live tarantula?” Kerry said, waving his list. “How are Delia and I supposed to bring it back here? In our hands?”
“It’s just a baby,” Brendan said. “It’s in a glass cage.”
Eric and Geena were huddled together, going over their list. “This stuff is hidden on all the floors?” Geena asked.
“Everywhere but the basement,” Brendan said. “The basement is filled with summer stuff. So we can’t use it.”
“Wait! Before we start, Brendan, can I ask you a question?” April said. All eyes turned to her. She held her scavenger hunt list in one hand. “Do you have dead squirrels on the list?”
Brendan squinted at her. “Excuse me?”
“Dead squirrels,” April repeated. “Because I had one at home. A dead squirrel in my bed. Was that part of your game?”
Brendan’s mouth had dropped open. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, April. Why would there be a dead squirrel?”
“I had a dead raccoon,” Geena said.
“Me, too!” Patti cried before I had a chance to chime in.
“Did everyone coming to this party get a dead animal?” April demanded.
Brendan was blinking rapidly, his face all tight, as if he was struggling to understand.
“I didn’t get a dead animal,” Kerry said.
“Neither did I,” Eric and Spider said in unison.
“I … I don’t know anything about this,” Brendan said finally. “I can’t believe it. Really. Do you think…? Do you think someone was trying to ruin my party? I mean … someone wanted you to blame me for putting them there?”